William Gopallawa | |
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.jpg) Gopallawa in 1961 | |
| 1st President of Sri Lanka | |
| In office 22 May 1972 – 4 February 1978 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Office established(Elizabeth II asQueen of Ceylon) |
| Succeeded by | Junius Richard Jayewardene |
| 4thGovernor-General of Ceylon | |
| In office 2 March 1962 – 22 May 1972 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | SirOliver Ernest Goonetilleke |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished(Himself as President of Sri Lanka) |
| 5th Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement | |
| In office 16 August 1976 – 4 February 1978 | |
| Preceded by | Houari Boumédienne |
| Succeeded by | Junius Richard Jayawardene |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1896-09-17)17 September 1896 |
| Died | 31 January 1981(1981-01-31) (aged 84) Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Party | Independent |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | |
William GopallawaMBE (Sinhala:විලියම් ගොපල්ලව,Tamil:வில்லியம் கோப்பல்லாவ; 17 September 1896 – 31 January 1981) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the lastGovernor-General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and the first and only non-executivePresident of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978, whenCeylon declared itself arepublic and changed its name to Sri Lanka.
Gopallawa served as Governor-General during the tenure of three different governments, two headed bySirimavo Bandaranaike of theSLFP and one headed byDudley Senanayake of theUNP.
He is also known as aReformist.[1]
William Gopallawa was born on 17 September 1896 at the Dullewe Maha Walauwa, Dullewe,Aluvihare, a suburb ofMatale. He was related to DulleweDissava, a signatory on behalf of theSinhalese to theKandiyan Convention of 1815, by his mother Tikiri Kumarihamy Dullewe. His father,Tikiri Bandara Gopallawa died when he was three years old.[2][3]
He received his primary education at the Dullewe village school and atSt. John's College, Kandy. He continued his secondary education atDharmaraja College, Kandy where he was a Scout and later moved toSt. Anthony's College, Kandy.[2] After having sat theCambridge Senior Certificate Examination in 1917, he returned to Matale and joined as one of the tutorial staff of theBuddhist English School. He was instrumental in setting up a library and aScout troop for the benefit of the students there.
In 1920, Gopallawa joined theCeylon Law College,Colombo and was enrolled as aproctor andnotary public in 1924. He started his legal practice as a junior toBernard Aluwihare in theunofficial bar of Kandy and went on to develop a practice in Matale, Dumbara and Kandy from 1924 until he took up duties as Municipal Commissioner, Kandy in 1939. He continued his practice on and off until he became the Municipal Commissioner ofColombo Municipal Council.
In 1926, Gopallawa contested and won in the Matale Urban Council elections, and served continuously in the council for a period of 13 years from 1926 to 1939. He served as the chairman of theMatale Urban Council for 5 years, at his office he was the youngest Urban Council Chairman in Ceylon at that time. In 1936, Gopallawa unsuccessfully contested for the Matale seat at theState Council Elections in 1936. In 1939, theKandy Municipal Council was established and Gopallawa was appointed as the firstmunicipal commissioner of Kandy. He served in that capacity throughoutWorld War II and acquitted himself for efficiency during the great floods in 1950. In 1951, he was appointed as municipal commissioner ofColombo Municipal Council and served until 1957, when he stepped down from the post. He was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire in the1953 Coronation Honours.
On 18 June 1958 whenS. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's government started diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, Gopallawa was posted as the second Ambassador to China in 1960. On 7 September 1961, while he was serving in China, he was recalled and posted as the Ambassador to the United States; he served there until 1962.
In 1962, he was called back to Ceylon, after his son in law's sister, the then prime ministerSirimavo Bandaranaike nominated Gopallawa asgovernor-general of Ceylon followingSir Oliver Goonetilleke's implication in theattempted military coup earlier that year. He was the second native Ceylonese governor-general and the first Buddhist to hold the post as the viceregal representative of QueenElizabeth II who was the head of state. Gopallawa served in this capacity until 1972, when he became the firstpresident of Sri Lanka.
His constitutional decision to invite theUNP which won the majority of parliamentary seats in the 1965 general election, (but not enough for an absolute majority) is heralded as a landmark moment where he respected the nation's constitution and its people's wishes more than the wishes of the defeated SLFP government who had first appointed him, who wanted him to delay inviting the winning party to form the government. It averted a major crisis of leadership.
When Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka on 22 May 1972, Gopallawa became the first president. Like the governor-general's post it replaced, the presidency was largely ceremonial. He stepped down from office in February 1978 when then Prime MinisterJunius Richard Jayewardene became president following constitutional changes that effected the creation of an executive presidency.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Governor-General of Ceylon 1962–1972 | Position abolished |
| Preceded byasQueen of Ceylon | President of Sri Lanka 1972–1978 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
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